Breonna Taylor update

This is an American horror show. I do not know how else to respond so I made a comic about it.

The city of Louisville, Kentucky, has agreed to pay $12 million to the family of Breonna Taylor …establish a housing credit program as an incentive for officers to live in the areas they serve; use social workers to provide support on certain police runs; and require commanders to review and approve search warrants before seeking judicial approval, among other changes.

Mayor Fischer said the city is not admitting wrongdoing in the agreement

Still, none of the officers involved in the flawed raid has been charged with a crime. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/15/us/breonna-taylor-louisville-settlement/index.html

Spanish version below:

Este es un programa de terror estadounidense. No sé de qué otra manera responder así que hice un cómic al respecto.

La ciudad de Louisville, Kentucky, acordó pagar $ 12 millones a la familia de Breonna Taylor … establecer un programa de crédito para vivienda como incentivo para que los oficiales vivan en las áreas en las que sirven; utilizar trabajadores sociales para brindar apoyo en ciertas carreras policiales; y exigir a los comandantes que revisen y aprueben las órdenes de registro antes de buscar la aprobación judicial, entre otros cambios.

El alcalde Fischer dijo que la ciudad no está admitiendo irregularidades en el acuerdo.

Aún así, ninguno de los oficiales involucrados en la redada defectuosa ha sido acusado de un delito.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/15/us/breonna-taylor-louisville-settlement/index.html

New Comics Wednesday

I made another comic book ! 😃👍 Here’s the front and back cover :

Summer Violence Showcase 2020

Over the Summer, I attended the ACX Comic Book Illustration course again over Zoom with Art Center instructor Alan Lawrence. This guy is super knowledgeable in all aspects of comics which made the lectures and demos engaging. As my classmates and I put out work, Alan gave us valuable feedback and for me it enhanced the direction of my work. This was exactly what I wanted and expected out of Art Center, and the bonus, a mostly completed comic book after all the work I’d put into the class.

The PDF below is a preview of upcoming pages I will be releasing every other Wednesday. Click on the green button below:

When I started the class in May, the original plan was going to be issue 2 of Post Apocalyptic Battle Cholas and I started with “Beach Day”–A slice of life story in a spy-vs-spy meets fighting game brawler with comic book physics kind of style.

Meanwhile on Twitter, a video circulated of a cop kneeling on George Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing because he was suspected of using a counterfeit $20. It was all over the news and if you haven’t heard where you been?? As I continued working on other parts of the comic, protests and civil unrest continued for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Andres Guardado and now Jacob Blake. I initially felt powerless. Just talking about race or politics with family/friends sometimes causes rifts or awkward conversations but very important to have this dialogue. I thought about how everything we make from art, movies, technology is a reflection of our culture. The things you post online, the news that gets shared shapes opinion, and that opinion drives people to take action. It’s how cities get planned, technology gets used, and how laws are made.

Anyway, the more I discussed and thought the more I realized that I wasn’t powerless and that the best way I could respond was through my art. I drew a short on George Floyd . Another on Breonna Taylor. I wanted to capture this moment in time because if we forget our history we are doomed to repeat it.

In the end, this comic preview includes these moments in history as I see them through my eyes but they are bundled with fictional violent stories based in a future Los Angeles that may or may not be in bad taste given what’s going on right now. So with that being said, everything in the PDF above is released under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license like open source software, feel free to use it as a starting point to remix, adapt and make your own stories with it or share as-is. This is my gift to Los Angeles.

Also, all new Post Apocalyptic Battle Cholas stories will be posted here. If you got this far, thanks for reading!!!

LOL Tumblr

Tumblr’s new policy does not allow ink sketches of wrestling matches involving tables and shirtless demons.

I see why a lot of folks were upset with the new policy.

its pretty silly what theyve done to themselves. i am curious where they going with it.

Monday

“Get outta here with that cloudy Monday nonsense. It’s the start of a new week. Fresh opportunities. Keep your head up you might miss them.”

— Some guy on the Internet who obviously had the day off today

Procreate practice sketch.

Last Day Yesterday and then some

Day before yesterday was major. Around 4am or so I got my first comic printed at this empty Pasadena kinkos by this guy Luis. “Looking over the fruits of your labor?” he asked. I nodded, flipping through the pages of the proof he handed me was like a rush. I’ve been working towards self-publishing for years. I remember talking with Robbie a few months ago on this very topic. And he asked, “What have you done lately towards your goals?” more or less. While there was lots of progress in the right direction; lots of practice, workshops and analysis but nothing like what I held in my hands. Not too long after that conversation, Angel sends me a text about a class at Art Center Extension program where at end of it, you would have a printed book. Sometimes things just fall into place, I remember thinking and signed up immediately.

Front cover

Most of the pages and covers were done on 11×14 bristol board with Kuretake Sumi Brush pen and Microns over 14 weeks. I took some of the scenes from my past inktober sketches and turned them into shorts. Scanned at 300dpi with the self-serve copiers and then saved onto usb stick. As it got closer to the last day of class, I ended up switching from traditional pencils and ink to digital on my Surface for the last 3 with Autodesk Sketchbook pro. I used clip studio for the time in years for halftone dots, dialog balloons with blambot fonts and cleanup after some googling on how-to.

Yesterday was the last of class where you come with your printed book and exchange with classmates who also put in a lot time and energy into some great work. It was an awesome class.